2 Days of Aunties

When the relaxed restrictions kick in, we took immediate action to plan for the next meetup. Bcos of work and the 2 pax rule, I had missed a couple of the exciting gatherings. 

The plan was very simple - eat, shop, chit chat and repeat. We met at 10am for brunch at Wild Honey. My job was to follow blindly and the aunties made the decision over what to eat, where to go. Easy, I like it when I didn't have to use too much of my brain on off days. Haha. 

Look at the yummy food! The servings were huge and we ordered 2 mains to share, topping up with scores. Oooooo... 

Completed with coffee. I had this mocha wild honey thing that was way too sweet but didn't stop me from polishing it off.

We hold true to our objective to eat, shop, chit chat and repeat and we did that very well.

The 3 musketeers and 美图-ed. Lol. 

I found it amazing how we could have endless conversations for 7 hours, parting ways only at 5pm. I did find my soul enriched and realised how much I miss catching up with these girls. 

While I was out creating precious memories, so did the kids. Popo nicely brought them out. Cousins united.

The kids have plans on Saturday too. The girls are now old enough to arrange for outings and gatherings on their own. Things get messy when the mummies were somewhat informed and participated in separate planning. 

The plan was to send both Lil Shauna and Zaky to Auntie J's place. Daddy Lim had a full day's work and I was secretly pleased to do nothing at home. My happiness was short-lived bcos Zaky and I found out on Friday evening that Lil Shauna is NOT going to Auntie J's house bcos of Youth. Zzzzzz. On Auntie Pei's side, C was also fickle minded about going or not going. Double Zzzzz. The aunties come to realise that we should either leave the girls totally to plan on their own or get involved from the start. The 不三不四 planning doesn't work. 

Ended up, it was a long grab ride to send Zaky to Auntie J's house. Thankfully, Auntie SL was staying somewhat nearby and was willing to "收留" the 2 of us after we dropped the boys. Auntie H had a couple of hours to burn too and we had another catch up session. 

The kids had fun at Auntie J's house. So did we. Hoho. 

I 

I am once again amazed that we still have so much to talk after talked for 7 hours the day before. The topics were free flowing and there is always something to discuss and talked about. My soul is once again enriched. 

Daddy Lim nicely came to pick us at 9pm. It is a good weekend. 

Mummy Lim

Silly Nana

Ever since we moved to LV, we have been making good use of the ancient scoot that we bought about 8 years ago. Lil Shauna and I use it to commute to the MRT station. It is a life saver for me on warm mornings; I perspire like mad simply by walking to the MRT station. Zaky uses it to commute to his Science tuition classes. 

On Tuesday morning, I was going to the office and was hoping to snatch the scoot. It was not parked at the usual spot outside our house and assumed that Lil Shauna had taken it, having left the house earlier than I did for her CCA in school. This was until Daddy Lim said that Lil Shauna didn't take the scoot; he had sent her to the MRT station. Zzzzz... Lil Shauna must have used the scoot earlier (few days) and left it at the MRT bicycle parking bay. She had done that several times. 

I tried looking for the scoot at the bicycle parking bay on my return trip. I even video-call Lil Shauna to ask her usual parking spot bcos it is a huge parking bay. She was with her friends giggling away; I wondered what's so funny. We didn't see the scoot at her usual parking spot and she claimed that she hasn't taken the scoot, that it is not her. Hmmmm...

This triggered a CSI. We were trying to ascertain the last person who had used the scoot. Zaky used it for the Science tuition on Thursday evening but Daddy Lim picked him and the scoot up. They had only remembered to bring the scoot home (from the car) on Friday or did they left it in the carpark? Lil Shauna swears that she didn't use the scoot after Friday but Popo remembered her mentioning scooting to the MRT on Saturday to attend her youth group meeting. Was it left and forgotten in the carpark? Was it stolen when we left it outside our house? Or Lil Shauna had indeed taken the scoot and forgotten about it? Hmmmm... with Popo's testament, she is the most sus, then why didn't we spot the scoot at the parking bay? Am I that blind?

This morning, I decided to check the parking bay again with my eyes open before heading to the office. What did I see? Zzzzz...

Our old trusted scoot leaning lonelily on the bicycle rack. Who left it there? The one who swears that she didn't take it. Zzzzzzz. 

What's even more funny is the way that it has been "locked".

Lil Shauna has "locked" it by the neck of the scoot and I can remove the scoot by slipping the handle through the lock without opening the lock. T.T 三条线. Zzzzzzzzz.

Apparently, she had been locking the scoot this way for the longest time. I wonder if nobody bothers to steal such an old scoot or we have very honest people in Singapore. 

On a different note, Cookie has been just as silly, kicking out all his sand bath sand from his "toilet". This was what I saw yday. 

Silly hamster. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Cycling w/o Daddy Lim

I missed cycling for 2 weeks bcos of rain and Zaky. Daddy Lim now work either on Saturday or Sunday and I have to fight with Zaky for Daddy Lim's weekend morning off bcos he too wanted Daddy Lim to bring him to the Kallang skatepark. I am so waiting for the skatepark opposite our house to be completed. We can walk over anytime then and Daddy Lim's weekend morning off would be mine. Hoho. 

Bcos I am so sick of the gym/ hiit/ jog routine, I was so looking forward to a ride, even if it is without Daddy Lim. He happened to be off last Saturday morning and coincides with the restarting of WWF group ride due to the relaxed restrictions but he was too tired and wanted to sleep in. Never mind, I go myself. 

Of course I did and was glad to wake up to clear sky. It was a ride to Marina Barrage, a route that I was familiar with and thoroughly enjoyed being on the bike again. 

Despite having the cycling craving satisfied, I was still yearning to ride on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, no usual cycling khakis were available and I half thought I would end up with a solo ride. I ended up joining another cycling group on their newbie rides. Hehe. Their usual rides are too fast and this newbie ride was a small group and a comfortable pace, aka one that I can catch up with. This time, we ended up at Kallang. 

Yay! I so missed riding!

Mummy Lim

Home Improvements Part 2

Popo went on another cruise last weekend. No, we didn't scrub and clean this time bcos I was feeling lazy and didn't drag everybody into some spring cleaning. Lucky them. Hoho. 

What I did do was to arrange for the aircon servicing. We have not serviced the aircon since shifting in 1 year back. The advice is to turn on the aircon on a regular basis; the units in the living room and popo's room are super underutilised. I bet the kids will be very pleased with the advice to regularly turned on the living room's aircon. 

School has finally ended for Zaky and his results are back. While his grades are decent, he definitely has room for improvements and needs to improve for PSLE. What doesn't change is the annual year end cleansing ritual. Lil Shauna has done hers a couple of weeks ago and it is finally time for Zaky. I cannot be more glad. Hohoho. 

His study table is so much neater now. I am very happy. Hoho. 

The Christmas tree has been also fully set up and decorated. 

We have also decorated the shelf. 

Look at the 3 blissful Christmas figurines. 

Looking forward to the last of our planned home improvement plan. Coming soon... 

Mummy Lim

PSLE Results Today

The PSLE result was released this morning. One year ago, we were anxious over Lil Shauna's results. Next year at about the same time, we would be anxious over Zaky's results. Why so much excitements in a short span of 2 years? Haha. 

I remembered how anxious I was one year back. On the morning to receive her results, I even dreamt that Lil Shauna got 237 and was posted to Bukit Timah Secondary School. I was awoken by the dream and googled about the school only to realise that there isn't such a school. Lol. 

Lil Shauna did much better (than my dream) and we are all very pleased with her achievement. We are even more pleased with how much she is enjoying her colorful secondary school life.

I wanted to blog, so as to remember her secondary school choices when we looked back many years later. 

1. MGS 

2. RV

3. NH

4. Crescent Girls

5. Fairfield Methodist

6. CHIJ St Theresa 

Were we disappointed that she didn't get into the top 2 choices? I don't remember but for sure she is having so much fun now that she thinks NH is totally the school for her. 

Mummy Lim

Christmas Performances

Many moons back, Christmas = gatherings and gifts exchanging. As Lil Shauna enters her teenager years, Christmas has become so much busier. She has joined her youth group to put up some dance performances for some Christmas outreach programs and had been so busy learning and practicing the item. Poor Daddy Lim had been activated to pick her on many weekday nights after her rehearsals. 

Apparently the performance will not only be live but also recorded. One Saturday, she was out an entire day for the filming. 

Don't ask me why 2 high pigtails. This is obviously before the hair cutting incident and I am not sure what she can carry on the actual performance. Lol. 2 anyhow sticking out pigtails? Hahaha. 

Then, she decided to join her ice skating club for another performance. We had imagined it to be some interesting program only to turn up for the 1st off ice practice to a group of very basic skaters. Hahaha. 

They had their full-dress rehearsal last Thursday night after her CCA. It was a full 2-hour practice for the amateur skaters to practice despite the routine being a very basic one in Lil Shauna's context. They did the program for what looked like 20x and I was imagining how bored Lil Shauna could be. Haha. It was alright, she made some new friends and was leisurely skating in between waits. She was just very exhausted after the long day at the end. 

Zaky got roped in to jiejie's youth group church's performance too. The church planned to film a short video and were looking for ka-le-fe actors. Zaky happily raised his hands. 

So on another Sunday early morning, we sent him to some Goodman building in Kallang. He had some miscommunication and there was transport from the church and we ended up so much earlier; so much time to monkey around.

It was some classroom setting and he was provided with school uniform. I was worried that he cannot fit into the pants but it turned out that the shirt was mini. Lol. 

It looked like some Malaysia school uniform, right? 

The background setup was realistic, got school crest on the uniform and the production crew brought in tables, chairs, writing materials and even the chalkboard. Zaky had a line and it was "six"! Lol. At least he got to say something. 

While he didn't know anybody, I had to leave him and bumped into a teenage who proclaimed that she is Lil Shauna's best friend in youth and would help watch over Zaky. Just nice. The event took up the Sunday morning and Zaky said that it was an fun experience. 

Fast forward to yday's pm, Lil Shauna did her 1st Christmas ice performance with the group. It started with the adult dance couples. 

Before the little ones rushed in while trying not to knock anybody. 

As you can tell, with the restrictions, we had to watch from outside. 

No T-shirt allowed and Lil Shauna ended up with a crop top. Cold? Not when one skates hard enough.

That's it! One more performance to go in December. 

Mummy Lim

Cut Hair 记

Once upon a time, I had a princess who refused to cut her hair. She has chest-long, fine and brownish hair. I had so much joy tying her hair. Her insistence to grow her hair grew stronger after watching Rapunzel, thinking that she would lose her magic with any snip. I had to plead with her to trim her hair.

As years go by, she had been requesting to cut her hair every now and then. Not short, short kind of hair but nothing of its former glorious length was left. It was my turn to persuade her to keep her crown of glory; it is very difficult to bun or style for her ice skating competitions. 

She has joined the netball team in her secondary school. Her school has this strange rule for all girls to tie their hair in French braid - *every single school day*. Yours truly has been waking up early every school day to braid her hair. Some days, her hair looks worse than others but they are French braided nevertheless. It is no easy feat trying to French braid hair the moment one gets out of bed. Haha. She has learnt not to demand or complain too much of her mother's hair braiding skill and opted to pin the weird sticking out strands when needed. 

Her CCA has a stricter rule for the girls to keep their hair shorter than a certain length. Being the guai guai student her whole life, she obediently adhered to the rule. Even more frequently now, she requests for hair cuts. Sob. I really missed her long hair. She only got to grow them out a little bit bcos of the eCCA and the EOY exams and had requested for a hair cut again bcos physical CCA has resumed. Zzzzzzz..

We couldn't find a salon on Wednesday evening after SISA. She had CCA yday afternoon and was determined to have her hair trimmed before that. Thus, she had gone to JP in the late morning for the quest singlehandedly.

When she was home, I could hear her giggles and laughs at the door and shown up in these. 

So freaking short!

Daddy Lim asked if she was imitating C, who was recently spotted a short crop. Auntie S asked why the impulse. All wrong........... It was apparently a miscommunication outcome. Hahahaha. She said that the uncle speaks Chinese and it was too late to rectify the problem when she realised how much was chopped off. Haiz, see lah, the importance of learning Chinese! Hahaha. I asked if that means no French braiding is required when school starts. She shrugged. 

She headed for her CCA in a tiny pony hair. By the time I saw her in the rink for the Christmas performance practice, it was a *hair spouting everywhere* pony tail. I managed to French braid her hair and it was messy but braided nevertheless. There were more crazy sticking our hair bcos her hair was really too short but never mind lah. Haha. 

This is a 不三不四 length. I am really hoping that they will grow out enough for me to properly braid them when school starts. 

Is she upset with the mistake? Thankfully she found it more amusing. She had never had this short hair and with a teenager mindset, was busy texting and IG-ing her new look. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

SA2 Done

Preparation for SA2 has a different feel this year. In the past, both kids would have been mugging past exam papers at about the same time and I get very busy alongside them. This year, Lil Shauna had been independent in studying for EOY exams and I didn't have to sweat about her. 

After a year in secondary school, we have come to acknowledge that she has barely any artistic and musical talents, scrapping through her art and music assessments consistently through the year. Lol. She struggled with the humanities as well and considered getting tuition help but I had asked that she gives herself more time. These are new and very different from primary school subjects after all and I think she needs to grasp how to study and take exams for these subjects. 

The SA2 preparation is even weirder for Zaky. The prolong HBL before SA2 gave us a lot of time to do past year papers and we completed what were passed down from Boo almost a week before SA2. Then, the school 1st informed us that paper 1 for EL and CL would be canceled. Soon after, we were told that oral would also be canceled. Zzzzz.  These are 2 segments that we exactly cannot practice and grade (at least I cant) on our own. With these 2 components removed and taking up almost half of the total subject score, there is almost no way to properly gauge the students' subject competencies. I don't know what the school is thinking about. Their "consideration" to not overly tax the students this year has definitely pushed the burden to the already stressful P6 year ahead. Anyway....

Then Daddy Lim was tested C+ and I initially thought that the kids would be confined and Zaky missing his SA2. I further lost steam in helping him prepare. The only subject that we continued to work hard on was Chinese bcos there is like truckload of 生词 to revise. He eventually took his SA2, much to his disappointment. He also had that glimpse of hope to be able to skip SA2. Haha. 

I didn't know what to expect for his SA2. The year had been really disruptive with multiple episodes of HBL, which truthfully had not been effective. I supposed the school had taken that into consideration in setting easier papers as well. 

His SA2 results turned out decent. Of course the expectations that I had set for him is higher. Hohoho. 

Jiejie had set the benchmark for PSLE as well as the guidelines on how and when to start studying for PSLE. Interestingly, Zaky appeared to be a lot clearer about what he wanted to achieve for PSLE and the new AL scoring system makes setting goals easier too. Jiejie must have been a good role model. 

I must helped him in his goal, right? Hoho. I am very helpful. Hohoho. The 1st step is to head down to Popular for assessment books. His Chinese tutor has recommended 4. I bought a Maths guide and an English assessment to help in his weak areas. He is not on English tuition now and I hoped that we can stay that way for P6. 

By Auntie H's recommendation, we got him a $50 English assessment book. This is like the most expensive assessment book that I have ever bought for the kids. It is quite good, coming with detailed solution key and explanations. In the past, when Zaky got his grammar wrong, we can never really properly explained the rules, we can only tell him that bcos the right answer sounds "right". 

I had also prebooked an one hour slot with him on Saturday afternoon, asking him to give me his 120% attention during that hour. He did and we worked out all the topics that he had to revise for Maths and Science. In addition, we sat down to revise the 1st Science topic, guiding him how to do so. We also attempted 1 mini segment of the English assessment; he is to do just one mini segment per day, and we found how helpful the answer key was. 

On Sunday evening, Auntie H is also very helpful and passed on more assessment books that Boo didn't complete to Zaky. Hohoho. 

One of them was actually passed on from Lil Shauna to Boo and now made it back. We used to do that with the kids' clothes and now it is assessment books. Did I take them? Of course. Whether we will use them or not is another story and the unused ones will be passed down again. I am sure there will be some. Hahaha. 

With these, we kick started our revision journey for PSLE. I am so looking forward to the end of the school term and be able to clear out all the P5 worksheets and workbooks, just like a cleansing ritual. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim

Home Improvements Part 1

It had been slightly over a year since we moved into LV. We didn't opt for huge carpentry work but mainly movable furniture. Thus our humble home didn't have those highly coloured coordinated look or atas renovated feeling that one finds in the home decor magazine. 

Precisely bcos the cupboards and shelves are not built in, we could re-arrange some of the furniture when needed. We did that with Lil Shauna's room when Daddy Lim was in QO and I had been thinking of what we could do with the living room. I like the minimalist look but do think that our living room does look a little too bare.

Popo going on cruise is always a good time to start. On Saturday evening, we roped in the kids to give the kitchen a good wipe down. This is like our routine when Popo is away. I started ordering storage and organisation stuff online. Shopping is always therapeutical before the credit card bill hits. Haha. 

On Sunday, we went to Ikea to lug a shelf that I have been eyeing since day 1. It is the same series as our TV console. 

Zaky said that he wanted to take a picture with his "friends". He has 2 of the exact same dog at home since he was really young. 

Then he was photo-bomb by black panther. Lol.

On Monday morning, it was very exciting when the phone kept buzzing to inform of upcoming delivery. Hoho. Christmas came early again.

The 1st to be delivered - 2 storage boxes for the fridge.

Next, the Christmas tree. Hoho. Our 1st ever Christmas tree, standing in the box beside the Ikea shelf.

More storage shelves for the storeroom. 

We also have my cycling shorts, Zaky's bday yoyo and Daddy Lim's watch strap delivered. So many things!

Zaky helped to unwrap the Christmas tree but gave up shortly. It was jiejie who completed the set-up.

We had a fruitful evening. I fixed up the 2 shelves and managed to do a quick re-arrangement of the storeroom plus cleared up a box of ah yee's books and notes that she had left behind since like years ago. The box moved with us from 987 to Centris to LV.

Yay, more space in the storeroom!

Daddy Lim started on the Ikea shelf and that took us an hour at least. I was reminded of the day that we shifted in to LV and had to assemble the big storeroom shelf ourselves bcos of the messed up move. It feels exactly the same, fortunately on a much smaller scale. 

Finally! Tadah!

I even allowed Daddy Lim to buy a mini plant to put on the shelf. Hoho. Now, it is to think of how to beautify the shelf. I do think that at least 1 family photo is needed. 

Last but not least, our 1st ever Christmas tree. 

Sorry, still 素颜-ing. Hohoho. More shopping go be done. So exciting... 

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 254: Hedwig Theme

There are a few things about Lil Shauna's ice skating that always get me very excited - her mastering a new jump/ spin, her doing her program with music and of course the tests/ competitions. 

Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to witness many of these exciting events in her 7 years of skating life. Oh yes, it had been 7 years since she stepped on ice. This triggered me to go look for the blog post where she had her 1st ice skating lesson. 

Lil Shauna and her usual pink legging combo in her early years. Hoho. She said that she didn't at all recollect her 1st lesson. 

She had been learning her program for her basic novice test for a while. There was no rush and we wanted her to take her time. I had been waiting for her to start doing her program with music and it finally happened on Sunday morning. Hoho. 

It was the Hedwig theme and ties in with my mood bcos I am re-reading the Harry Potter books. Hoho. I am quite sure I was more excited than she is over the practice. 

For the 1st part, she was too fast and Coach has to add in additional steps. Even then, she was too fast and was doing her sit spin forever to wait for the right time to continue her 2nd segment. Then, she was too slow for the 3rd segment, and still slow after 3 tries. That was the end of the program practice with music and I was still yearning to see more. 

This is Coach chasing after Lil Shauna, so that she can hear the music playing from his phone.

It was a hard lesson. Lil Shauna was perspiring like mad, with wet fringe at the end of her lesson. Good workout leh. 

I am so looking forward to her next lesson. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim